The Lord's Work

May 15, 2020·39 min·3 clips

A 19-year-old missionary starts a malnutrition charity in Uganda, but a decade later faces accusations of killing hundreds of children.

Renee Bach talks first about fear. She remembers moving to Uganda young and worrying she might fail at the work she believed the Lord had put in front of her. The narration lets that faith sit there for a moment. Then it turns to what other people are asking a court to weigh. No White Saviors has made the story visible, especially through Instagram, but the excerpt is careful about the less shiny work too: witnesses, affidavits, funding, and lawyers. The case rests on two mothers. Gimbo Zubeda says she allowed Serving His Children to take her malnourished three-year-old, Twilali, to Jinja for treatment in 2013. Three days later, she was told he had died. She says he came back wrapped in a white sheet, with fifteen dollars offered as a condolence. Kakai Rose tells a second story. Her one-year-old son, Elijah Kawagambe, had been diagnosed with TB in 2018 before a worker urged admission to the facility. After a few days, they were sent home without information or medication. Elijah died three days later. The mothers want compensation for their loss and the permanent shutdown of Serving His Children. Kelsey sees it as a civil rights case, but she does not put the advocates at the center. She says the families carry that weight. The courthouse scene does not resolve much. After hours of waiting, the registrar gives a hearing date, and the narration notes that it would be pushed back again and again.

As heard by us

A charity founder's origin story turns into a patient, unsettling investigation of harm, grief, and public narrative.

The episode traces Renee Bach from a small Virginia town to Uganda, where she started a charity for malnourished children, then sets that setup against Ugandan mothers' grief and a civil case over two children's deaths.

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Why you'd press play

You want a faith story that keeps revealing the cost behind the calling.

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